Year of the Boar, Tenth Month, Day 9.

I decided this morning, that it was high time I took matters in hand. Things cannot continue the way they have been. I am starting to question my own sanity. Yuika is like a butterfly; her mind flitting from one thing to another without stopping, every fraction of a stick a different priority. This morning, she has taken it into her head that the upcoming visit by Princess Rani is little more than a plot by Shigeru to distract her while he invades Dying Crane.
Granted, it is the type of thing he would do but I highly doubt that Shigeru's sway reaches through the Seventh and into the Sixth... but I find myself dwelling on it as if it were a real possibility... I have spent the past few sticks composing a note to Kenji to see if he can find out what contacts Shigeru has in the Sixth, if any. It is quite ridiculous... Yuika is paranoid. I know she is and to find myself taken and carried away with her wild fictions, is nonsense. And yet... what if rather than being less than sane, she is actually a tactical genius with military insight that far outstrips any I might have...? What if ... she is right...?
And if she is... what then...? Why should I even care...? I have no allegience to Dying Crane and yet... something keeps me here. I cannot simply leave Yuika to Shigeru's mercy for he would have absolutley none... and if I left while there was even the slightest possibility I could protect her from harm, that would be entirely my fault. I do not think my conscience could live with it. How I ever came to be embroiled in all of this is beyond me but in the cold light of day, I suppose it is still better than being Mother's prisoner. I think though, that once Princess Rani has gone, I will go to Purple Lightning as Father told me to. Yuika could either come with me or not; by then, I will have installed Ryouko and perhaps found a second up here. Maybe I could even try again to persuade Nanami to come back even temporarily.

Year of the Boar, Tenth Month, Day 7.

Yuika has made it clear that she intends for me to manage the visit by Princess Rani. I do not know whether to be flattered or irritated; it is as if she wishes to absolve herself of all repsonsibility for her own House. No. Not 'as if'. She does. Of course she does. It has been a long time since she was capable of running her House... if indeed, she ever has been. Not all of it is her fault, I know that. In her position, I would likely have disemboweled myself long ago; it is testament to Yuika's resiliance that she lives to see each day but part of me cannot help wonder why she continues to put herself through such agonies. Surely at some point, she must take back control or... end it all...? Still, I am no expert in these matters so what do I know of it... I would insist the physician do something if I were not convinced he would simply pour sedatives or opiates down her throat. I hate to admit it but I may be out of my depth. I now have an inkling of how Nanami must have felt; trapped... unable to help Yuika but unable to leave lest she be responsible for further harm coming to Yuika. Why that should even bother me, I still do not know but I do feel responsible.
On a positive note, I believe I may have found a replacement for Nanami. She will need some significant training but since Yuika seems to have given me a reasonably free rein with the Diplomats, I do not think anyone will be particularly suspicious of me giving my maid more training so she is better equipped to support me as I take on new duties. The girl in question, Ryouko, has been serving me more or less since I arrived and although I was not sure about her at first, she has proved herself reliable. She can read and writes a little thanks to Yuika's insistance that all of her staff do, and when I have sent her on small errands, she has carried them out without question and to the letter. More importantly, I observed her watching me somewhat furtively when she believed I was not paying attention. Since I noticed that, I have seen her watching others about the court as well and I am convinced that all of these qualities will make her an excellent replacement for Nanami. Of course the price I must pay for using Ryouko to replace Nanami is that I must then find a replacement for Ryouko. If indeed, I can get Ryouko to agree. I must also find a way to convince Atsuko that Ryouko would be better placed to serve Yuika than she is to serve me...

Year of the Boar, Tenth Month, Day 6.

Well. I scarcely know where to begin.
In the space of but a day, such a lot has occurred that I may not have the time to impart it all this evening. Yuika's scouts apprehended a group of scouts from the Sixth Kingdom somewhere near the border with the Seventh Kingdom. So great her paranoia about some sort of attack by Shigeru, Yuika has had scouts patrolling the borders constantly. They detected movement along the border and observed for a few days before capturing them. I wish I had been there to see that; as far as I am aware, none of Dying Cranes scouts can speak the languages of the other kingdoms and from what I have observed thus far, the scouts of the Sixth speak ours extremely badly! In any case, they were captured and brought to the House.
Yuika and I were both schooled in the languages of the other Kingdoms although it has been some while since I was required to use any and struggled to read the letter the scouts presented. Yuika demanded they were brought before her and surprised me greatly when she managed to converse with them as if she were herself, a native. Why it should have surprised me so, I cannot say for she always had a gift for languages. While I had no difficulty with reading, I always found speaking them a trial but Yuika struggled only with the social niceties required by each Kingdom - not that she failed to affect them but  she always managed to do it with such petulance, it bordered on rudeness. No such niceties were required to question the scouts from the Sixth in any case and it was mere fractions of a stick before she had discovered that the Queen of the Sixth is desirous of sending her daughter, the Princess Rani, on some sort of diplomatic tour.
What an interesting turn of events that is... how Yuika will cope with a delegation of royals from the Sixth, I do not know but we have several weeks to prepare for the Princess so I am hopeful that at the very least, we can avoid an inter-Kingdom incident. Sending scouts before an official delegation seemed like an extremely odd way to go about things to me and even after Yuika's conversation with them, I found myself to be highly suspicious. Not that I believed them to be anything other than scouts from the Sixth, but I could not understand why they had not come straight to the House or why an official delegation had not followed immediately so I spent some time in the library this afternoon and I have discovered that this is apparently how the Rulers of the Sixth have always done things. They prefer to see what sort of welcome their delegation is likely to receive before they go to the trouble of paying for it. In a strange sort of way, I suppose it makes sense, but I would certainly have preferred to have dealt with a delegation.
It is difficult to gauge Yuika's reaction to this; on one hand, she cannot be anything but relieved that Shigeru has not decided to invade (yet) but on the other, I am not sure how she will cope with the stress of a diplomatic visit in her current, fragile state. We cannot refuse though and the visit must go well lest it cause problems with the other Houses. I say 'problems' what I mean is, more problems. We already have more than enough...
She made vague noises this morning about giving me some sort of title. She was not making much sense at all although I gather that she does not wish me to leave Dying Crane which I suppose is a relief. Although as I have thought many times before, if she ever finds out that I am responsible for Nanami, she may well change her mind... I was forced to ask myself some probing questions after our conversation; if I am to remain at Dying Crane, must I renounce my claim to Pale Twilight's throne...? If I did that, would I be committing myself to remain a member of the House of Dying Crane for the rest of time...? Is that what I actually want...? I have no answers to those questions and as yet, I am unsure how much protection Yuika would really offer me if Mother found out I was here and decided to cause trouble. I must think on this further; there will come a time when I must decide where my allegiance really lies.